ZZZ, the last thing you say
by Rakusa
Summary: There are things in this world that people can't account for. They'd rather pretend the things that go bump in the night aren't real and cower in their beds. Most of the time that works. (Sort of a Halloween story)
1. Chapter 1

ZZZ, the last thing you say

10/23/2012

Summary: There are things in this world that people can't account for. They'd rather pretend the things that go bump in the night aren't real and cower in their beds. Most of the time that works.

Genre: Mystery & Horror

Rated: M, for V, G, S & S

* * *

AN: So I've decided to take another stab at a Halloween Fic. This time though, you have to work with me, it's going to be a little crazy... hehehe, but only in true Halloween form. You have to thank a tumbler site for this idea, not that they know it, but something I saw sparked an idea and so lo and behold, a halloween fic! Hehe... but not in the strictest sense of the word. You'll see. But **PLEASE** give it more than a chapter or two to really catch your interest. It's much more than a horror story. There's layers and depth to it and it will unfold beyond the shock factors and I think I have a pretty good chance of continuing this beyond Halloween until its finished.

AN2: Can I just say... I love the four kings, I can't help it, there's just so much room to grow as characters. I try to throw them in whenever I can. Delicious sigh...

**MAJOR** AN: This is not my first fic, far from it, so anything that's **not canon** is **ON PURPOSE**! Sorry, but after explicitly stating this in AN, I always get at least one review telling me that something I said or did is wrong. I'm well aware, it's got a point and a reason for it. I'm well versed in canon season 1 thru 3 and even Stars to a degree. Don't ask me about the Chaos controlled senshi, but anything on Earth at the time I know all.

–

Chapter 1

–

"Usagi, when is curfew?" Ikuko called out to her daughter who was just leaving for the day, curfew was a long way off and the last thing on the blond's mind.

"_Mom_." Usagi responded in exasperation. "I'll be home long before then, don't worry. What could keep me out that late?"

"All right." Ikuko sighed as Usagi let herself out of the house and onto the busy streets of Tokyo. Her daughter was getting old enough that she could take care of herself, but as a mother she still worried. Ikuko knew she was gone when the gate slid shut and the electronic locks hummed as they re-bolted.

Ikuko's gaze turned to Shingo. "Need me to drive you?" She asked the ten year old who looked back at her only when his cartoon turned to a commercial break.

"Sure." Then he turned back to the cartoons and let the things on the screen zap him of any brain functioning.

–

"When is curfew?" Usagi repeated her mother's words but with a voice sounding a bit naggier than was actually used. "As if I couldn't remember something as simple as that!" She was complaining to her best friend as they road the public bus to the stop closest to their school.

"Moms do worry." Naru agreed and hung on tighter as their bus went over a bump. She fell into Usagi and her grip was so tight it made the flesh around her fingers white on Usagi's arm. Naru straightened up. "Sorry." But it took a moment longer before her grip was released. "Still not used to the newest form of slowing us down."

Usagi nodded in understanding, not that their bus driver was going particularly fast, it was just hard to hang on while standing and going around those curves in such a large vehicle. Usagi took Naru's hand in hers and laced their fingers. "Not to worry! What are best friends for?"

A few of the passengers were asleep in the back, but that was pretty normal for this part of the world, they usually tried to catch up on the sleep they missed while in transit. All too soon they were moving towards the doors and waving to the driver. "Thanks, bye!" They didn't see one of the men slump forward in his seat.

Once they were on solid ground Usagi turned to Naru. "Do you know what happened to the usual man behind the wheel? He's usually a lot better at driving."

"No idea, maybe they laid him off." Naru responded and they walked up to the large black gates to their school, one door was swung in to allow their entrance. They stopped and waited while they were scanned and then they passed another set of doors and were in for the day. A few of the students were told to wait and herded in another direction.

"Oh no... there goes Kuri, that's too bad, I really liked her."

Naru rolled her eyes. "She told me she was going to try and stay out passed curfew this week, said it was better than being home. I guess she did it and got caught. She should have known better, rule breakers don't last long around here."

"I suppose you're right." Usagi agreed, but her voice didn't have any of the muster in it that she normally did.

"Oh look, here comes one I just wish would break every rule so they could find something on him." Naru nudged Usagi, trying to cheer her up as one of their least favorite students came their way.

"_I_ don't. I don't wish where they're going on anyone. I wonder if they ever get incorrect intel."

"People claim they do, but I'm not so sure. How could you ever challenge all their technology?" Naru suddenly became mute as Umino came up to them.

"Did you see the news last night? England's got a protector. Apparently she's been cleaning up the streets a lot faster than the police are." He sighed. "I wish we'd get someone around here like her."

"Careful what you wish for, or you'll be the one doing it." Usagi warned and got a shudder in response and not just from Umino. Something caught her attention at the corner of her eye and she turned to see what it was. There on top of the gates' brick structure was a black cat. "How odd..." She turned away and her friends looked at her in confusion before she rolled her eyes in that direction. They still weren't seeing it and so she shrugged. "It's not important, just a black cat on a Friday."

They were now giving her a look of confusion mixed with superstitious concern and she waved it away with both hands. "Not to worry, come on. It's better than a white cat at night."

"Yeah, all right. You're right. Right. Right?" Naru turned to Umino for confirmation to that last one and Usagi couldn't help but smile and wrap an arm around her friend.

"You're great, you know that?"

Naru blushed and shook her head. "Usa-chan, I'm a ditz."

"But you're a ditz just like me." Usagi winked and then made a grab for her hand while her other hand looked for Umino's before she could think about where it'd probably been recently. "Now lets go before we're late for class!"

–

The bell rang to single the end of the day and Usagi and Naru took one look at each other before they nodded with huge grins on their face and ran out the door that only went one direction. They raced each other down the busy Tokyo streets to the arcade gaming institute. They passed through another detector before they were allowed entrance automatically and they greeted the owner of the place. "Motoki!"

He turned to them with a huge grin. "So glad to see you today, just like every day. What can I do to make today that much more special?" He leaned down to give Usagi a kiss on the cheek. "Whatever you want, for two of my favorite customers."

"One more than the other?" Naru asked wryly and Motoki only shook his head in response, that wasn't exactly true but it wasn't completely wrong either.

"I'd like a milkshake please, Motoki-kun!" Usagi decided to ignore the bout of jealousy over favoritism, it wasn't her fault that she'd known him longer.

"Naru?" He asked as he turned to fulfill Usagi's order.

"One for me too." Naru seconded. "But make mine a strawberry."

"Coming right up!" And just like everyday, he brought them their orders and stuck around for a chat. "How was school today?"

Usagi made a face. "Pretty empty actually, almost half the class was out sick. They're going to need to start pulling from other schools that are overrun soon."

"I'm not sure that's a great idea." Motoki countered. "More bodies in the seats just mean more students to teach and less one on one time."

"The teachers keep changing too. At this point I don't think there's any chance that we're going to get a decent education." Naru complained.

"They're doing the best that they can." Usagi said softly. "It's been a hard time on everybody. People don't even want to walk the streets anymore."

That was true, although Tokyo was still busy and crowded it was a lot less than usual. Even the arcade seemed pretty barren and usually that was an oasis from what was going on outside, a type of safe haven for all who wanted to venture out of their homes.

Motoki was looking down at the counter as she said that and he raised sad eyes up to hers. She wasn't the only one who saw through all these 'precautions' that were put into place. How could anyone know anything for sure these days? He reached out and ruffled her hair. "Just as long as you're home by curfew, I can handle anything else."

Usagi swallowed and nodded. Some days that was easier said than done. Someone new passed through the sensor and she lifted her head to see who it was. A scowl crossed her features. "I might take back what I said earlier today, Naru, if he says one word-"

"Hey stocking-stuffer." He reached out and made more of a mess with her hair than Motoki had done. "See you're already starting in on the sugary drinks."

She glared up at him. "I don't see anything wrong with it. One a day can't hurt."

"Maybe it does more than you know." He was looking down at it with disgust as the strange solid state it was turned slowly to a liquid. "Any rate, Motoki, coffee please."

"Two seconds, just put on a new pot." Motoki didn't even budge from his spot at the counter, the only one able to keep the peace between these two. "Got in a new game, Usa-chan, one based on that girl in England."

"Ooh." Usagi skipped off and dragged Naru along with her.

Mamoru watched the two go and then turned back to Motoki who finally pushed off to fill Mamoru's cup. "One of these days she's going to find herself in a pickle of her own making."

"Maybe, one of these days, but I hope that day is far, far off."

"I do too." Mamoru said quietly to his cup as he took a sip of the overly hot strong black coffee. "I do too."

–

"Usagi!" Naru suddenly halted in the middle of the sidewalk and Usagi took a second to realize her friend wasn't with her and she slowed to a stop too. Looking around for whatever startled her redheaded friend. "I just realized! Tonight is the official opening of my mother's shop!"

"Oh..." Usagi's eyes lit up. "I love her store!"

"She's going to have a major sale for the first to come and that means tonight only. If you want something you'll only get tonight as a chance to buy it."

"I don't know..." Usagi's eyes dimmed and her chin lowered. "The way you made it sound, well, that's after curfew and I have to be home by then."

"Not to worry, mom said she'd have guards on the premise. And the usual precautions."

"My mom would never let me out." Usagi hedged. There was absolutely no way Tsukino Ikuko would allow her daughter to roam the streets unattended at night.

"Then improvise and be creative."

"Weren't you just saying that rule breakers never learn? That there's consequences to actions like that?" Usagi teased.

"Yeah, but that's when they want to be out _all _night and go someplace they shouldn't. This is a sanctioned event. There's no risk involved." Naru turned pleading eyes onto her face and she gave in.

"All right, I'll be there."

"Yes!" Naru squealed and hugged Usagi. "Now lets get off the streets and have some of your mom's awesome pie!"

Usagi laughed thinking if she didn't make herself fat, Naru would be the spearheader to make it happen. Usagi looped arms with her friend and they ran the rest of the way home.

–

Usagi said a short goodbye to her friend promising she'd see her soon on a whisper while saying quite loudly that she'd see her on Monday.

Ikuko was waiting for Usagi just inside the doorway, making Usagi jump a mile high. "Mom, you've scared me!"

"You've got homework to do." Ikuko reminded her, pushing the backpack into her arms. "Do it now until your father comes home."

"All right, all right." Usagi trudged towards the stairs. "I'll do it in my room."

–

All the lights in the house switched off from the maintainer in Tokyo General. All the lights in the houses in the city flickered off and ones on the street turned on to a dim glow. There were still people prowling around the roads but slower than before and quite a bit fewer in number.

Usagi looked out the window at them and took a deep steadying breath before climbing onto the tree just beyond her reach. The trunk was actually on the other side of the wall to her house's courtyard, and her room was on the side to the street. If she climbed down this tree she could reach the street easily enough without alerting anyone.

Then when she came home, she could climb it once more to get back into her room. She hung onto the base of it for a long time before stealing her nerves and slowly making her way down. Once she felt the ground beneath her, she ran the entire way to Naru's mother's jewelery shop, avoiding the people on the street as she did so. She made sure to give them all a wide berth and to not go by any dark alleys.

She stumbled once and almost fell flat on her face but she managed to catch herself before that happened and continued on her sprint. The guards outside the shop gave her a look but allowed her to enter anyway and she passed the detector easily enough. She breathed out a sigh of relief as she entered the safety of a store.

Inside it gleamed and glittered and there were women everywhere with sparkles in their ears and along their necks among other places. Serena sighed as she looked upon the beauty of it all. It was all to rare these days to find beauty in anything.

Usagi found Naru quickly and they squealed and looked at all of the jewelery together, not leaving one single piece free from an awe or ooh. They heard a noise and all heads picked up to see a man try to enter but was refused entrance. The guards grabbed him by the arms and hauled him away and out of sight. Usagi swallowed hard and even when Naru attempted to get her attention over the next piece, Usagi had trouble shaking off the feeling. Somehow this all seemed pointless and superficial after that. She couldn't muster up the joy in the jewelery anymore.

"I think I'm going to go home." Usagi said after awhile of pretending to be interested and Naru had seen her waning attention.

"All right." Naru agreed. "Did you want to buy anything first?"

Usagi glanced over all of the displays, not really seeing them, she had liked something and had made a note but now she couldn't recall what it was. "I- I don't know. Was there something you'd pick for me?"

"I remember that you lingered over this one, and I think it's quite gorgeous." Naru went behind the counter and picked out a necklace. On the end of the delicate chain was the symbol for the Earth sitting on the bottom portion of a half moon as if in a delicate balance, floating and in the center where all fours met in the Earth was a blossoming white rose, the stem wrapped around the lines like a vine and then wrapped around the moon too with thorns and small blossoms in red. Usagi couldn't look away and all other thoughts disappeared as she looked upon it. "So? What do you think?"

Usagi blinked and looked up at Naru uncomprehending for a second and then she cleared her throat. "Excuse me?"

"What do you think? Do you want it?" Naru swung it almost hypnocially in front of her and Usagi nodded.

"Yes, yes I do." For some reason this necklace symbolized so much to her. She caught it in mid swing and let the chain drape along the edge and back of her hand, the ornament in her palm. "I will never let it out of my sight."

"Jeez Usa-chan, you don't have to wear it all the time on my account." Naru teased and wrung her up. "It's 10,000 Yen."

Usagi took out the notes Naru needed and smiled tentatively at her. "I'll see you later?"

Naru agreed. "Be safe Usa-chan. Do you need an escort home?"

"No, I'll be all right, I stick to main streets."

"Ok... Call me in the morning?"

Usagi forced a bright smile onto her face. "Of course! Talk to you then!"

Women had come and gone while Usagi had been there and so she was just another among the customers. She slipped out the door with one last wave at friend and her mother. Then bundling up a bit more, she started her quick pace home. She stuck to the main streets as she'd intended but then there was a moment where she could no longer follow them, not without passing several people and she couldn't keep a wide berth from all of them. With a quickened heart and an instant decision, Usagi cut through one of those alleyways, it looked larger than the regular ones and was actually lit up.

All she was planning to do was cut a street over and then follow that one until the next main street and then return to her intended path home.

She misjudged her knowledge of this particular area, for she found herself in an area with four alleys splitting off from hers and not one clear choice. She swallowed hard and angled back towards where she had been before. Surely by now she was passed all of those people on the street.

The path she took went for a ways straight and then it was blocked off by a building but she could turn right and so she did, only to run into a high chain-link fence. She tried to calm her heart and turned around, she'd find her way out of this mini-maze. There was a pile off to her left as she turned around and she darted passed it, not knowing what could be there, especially as it moved.

She rounded that corner again and saw someone walking passed the entrance to her alley. She stepped back slowly, trying not to draw attention to herself and prayed that the person would continue walking by, that they wouldn't come down this way. She wasn't so lucky, just as it was about to pass, it froze and slowly turned her way. She had nowhere to go, but it was better to keep backing up. She'd preferred her chances behind her than to face this one head on.

In the back of her mind she was trying to make a plan but she was too terrified to really get anywhere, her thoughts kept returning to the fact that she was trapped and the person was coming her way. She'd be completely trapped in seconds. Her eyes scanned her surroundings but she couldn't even find anything to climb and get out of the way, not even a fire escape.

It was in this state that she tripped over the pile that she had taken care to avoid earlier. She let out a tiny shriek as she flailed and fell backwards onto her bottom. She heard a groan and she scrambled back to her feet and away before the mound could do anything, but already she had spent too long with it. There were now two people back here! She let out a small mewl of protest, not intending to make a sound but it still slipped out. "Quiet!" The pile hissed as it slowly unfurled. "You'll bring attention-!" But he was facing her and he wasn't much older than her, out of public schooling, but not for too long... and the person coming down the alley after her reached out and grabbed him.

Teeth sank into his neck and she whimpered as she realized she had just caused this. She could either try to bolt around them or continue backwards. She made the decision to do the latter. She turned and sprinted to the chain link fence, her hands pressed against the metal and she tried to close her ears off to the moans and screams behind her as he was ate, quite violently too. He wasn't lucky enough for a quick death.

She couldn't find purchase as her hands kept slipping along the smooth surface and her shoes weren't much help either. She had gotten a few feet above the ground when she slipped and fell back to the dirty street below. She scrambled to go up again when her eyes caught something in front of her on the other side. For a second she feared that she'd leave one occupied person and dive into an area with a lot more.

But it wasn't a person. It was a black cat. She blinked and wasted precious time as she realized it was the _same_ black cat as earlier. "Take this." It said and if she wasn't so conditioned to the horrors of this world she might have shrieked at the fact a cat was talking to her as a beam shot out of its head and produced from nowhere a round... thing. It didn't project very far and it fell onto the ground just beyond the fence on the cat's side.

Usagi stuck her hand through and stretched her fingers as far as she could to grab it, they barely brushed. "A little help?" She asked but the cat shook its head.

"I can't touch it before you claim it as your own." It told her and Usagi whipped her head around when she realized that there were no more cries coming from behind her.

Usagi saw that the... woman... was done with the boy on the street and its attention was turned onto her. Usagi pressed against the fence her face gaining lines with how much she did so, wondering if she was insane to take this as it wasn't going to help her kill this woman. But if a talking cat gives you advice, you take it, don't you? Especially if that same talking cat suddenly produces something magically. Her leaning against the fence helped as it allowed her to move it slightly and she was able to get her hand around the object the cat had put there. She managed to slide it out towards her and she picked it up. "Hurry!" The cat yelled.

The words whispered themselves to her, words she'd never heard before and it wasn't with her ears that she heard them. She felt her arm lift up into the air on its own accord and the words were out of her mouth before she knew it. "Moon... Prism Power... Make-Up!"

For a second nothing happened, and then from within her chest a bright light exploded and it covered her torso then slithered along her arms and legs and up her neck over her face. Her clothing disappeared to be replaced with something else entirely, something that would life eyebrows here and was actually pretty impractical. She would have thought for sure that it would at least give her full body armor, like the police and hired guards had. Instead it was a short mini skirt over a skin tight leotard and pointless excess fabric at her shoulders and down her back, oh and gloves and a pair of high heeled boots.

Other than that, she felt no different.

She barely had time to register these things before the woman's face was in hers. The disgusting, corroding, bloody face. Usagi cowered back and screamed. She couldn't help it, she curled in on herself and held her arms up to protect her face, not that it would matter in the end, if she got bit, she got bit. Fingers dug into her arms and the hot mouth covered a limb with teeth exposed. Usagi clenched her eyes to avoid watching it, the pain would be enough.

She felt the pressure but she didn't feel the surprisingly sharp for the dead and decaying teeth puncture anything. The mouth continued, well mouthing might fit here, but it felt more like gumming or when kids were just getting their teeth in, well, she supposed teething might be a more accurate term for it. The woman kept teething at her arm and Usagi kept screaming.

It wasn't her fault, really. She was so immersed in what would happen if caught out at night by one of these creatures. Either you were dead within seconds if you were lucky, within minutes if you were unfortunate, or you'd be bitten and manage to get away, bleeding and slowly dying but not knowing it other than mentally. You could go for days, turning, but they never wanted to take that chance. That's why they had the detectors, to learn if the person had been bit or scratched or infected in someway and to head it off before they turned.

Usagi didn't want to turn. She didn't want to die here either. If she didn't turn or die here, then she'd have to face her next fate. Being caught and shot in the head while still alive or waited out, depending how vindictive the shooter was.

"Girl! Girl!" There was a female voice shouting at her from somewhere amidst the chaos of her own mind and what was happening in front of her. "You're protected from the bites in this form! But you have to _do _something!"

Usagi was slowly starting to realize that herself and was slowly deescalating from the sheer panic that had taken her over. The longer this lasted, the more her head cleared. She was still terrified of what was going on and the situation she'd found herself in. "Like what?" She finally grunted out, batting away at the woman attempting to eat her, she managed to push the woman a few feet away so she had breathing space again.

"Use your tiara, it will take care of this." The female voice commanded, not at all worried about the creatures, probably because she was a cat and these people didn't seem to be interested in anything but humans.

Usagi's hand patted up her face until she found an odd shape and texture on her forehead, sure enough, there was a tiara there. Her hands slid around it, looking for a clasp or the back of it so she could figure out a way to take it off. In the end, she went back to the front and just pinched it, pulling it forward as she did so. The tiara was no wider than her forehead and she frowned at it, wondering how it stayed at all.

She turned it around in her hands, it was mostly gold, a color she didn't think suited her in most cases, silver was better for her skin tone. In the center was a ruby jewel, she tried pressing it, thinking it activated the tiara to become some sort of weapon. But nothing happened, it didn't stretch and turn into a sword or a hammer or anything that could be remotely useful, not even a knife. What was she supposed to do? Turn it on its side and just hope that one of the points on it would go into this woman's head?

She was completely ignoring the woman who turned back to gnaw on the man once more, finding whatever meat was left on this corpse that wouldn't rise again. Usagi blanched and felt sick. She had to concentrate on breathing only through her mouth and not her nose so her stomach wouldn't roll further.

What was she doing, standing around and looking at a tiara in a ridiculous outfit when she should be at home in bed? The only explanation for this craziness and completely impossible situation, including the cat, was that she was at home, in bed having a nightmare as all of the stories caught up to her and she created this situation instead of what would really happen. Or she was dead. Either way, it was messed up and had to be in her head. There was absolutely no way any of this was real.

Perhaps she'd seen too many Zombie movies when she was little, those had been a pretty big deal back then. Now they were on the research channel as theories on how to kill these creatures but were told to leave it to the authorities unless you were absolutely with your back against the wall. They didn't want to aggravate the ones they hadn't found yet and have a complete mess on their hands. Not that this current situation was all that great. There was at least 10% of the population turned already another 10 dead and a third 10 too afraid to leave their homes and the numbers were only growing.

"Stop dinking around already, you know the things you need to do. What happened, have you already been turned? That's the only explanation I can have for why you seem so dim-witted about all this."

Usagi felt her ire grow towards the cat. If this was a dream she'd be sure to kick it after she dealt with this woman. If it wasn't, well, she'd never do that sort of thing. She tried to pinch herself but while she got an angry red mark for her troubles, it didn't hurt as much as it should have. "So I am dreaming?"

"No." The cat hissed and tried to take a swipe at her ankle through the fence. That was a failed idea before it even began, she couldn't reach her, there were boots in her way, oh and there was this magical shield over her entire body that protected her from any sort of penetration.

"That's just what a dream would say."

"Stop messing about, I swear I hope the other senshi aren't as fluffy headed as you are. How could you forget what to do?"

The cat drew attention to it, the woman was now joined by a few other creatures, all in varying stages of decomposing and some had bones sticking out through the skin, others had no mean on them so were just, literally skin and bones but still somehow managed to slug their way towards her. "Shut up." Usagi hissed at the cat. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" If she was repeating herself, it was because her fear just came back three-fold. She didn't know what would happen if more than one of them attacked her.

She started shaking the tiara, hoping for something to happen. "It'd be nice if you gave me some kind of pointer." Usagi finally admitted her need for help, well not so much admitted as realized she'd need to say it to get the cat to realize it herself, that Usagi wasn't going to magically recall what she was supposedly was supposed to know.

"Oh. Um... I'm not sure either. Each girl is different." The cat was very unhelpful and Usagi pressed against the chains once more, her back to it and her hands groping behind her to find purchase. It was easier with the gloves and she wondered if she could climb it backwards, or if she turned around to climb if it would make much difference. Either way, she was getting out of here, forget the damn tiara.

They were close, much too close and Usagi hadn't climbed the fence at all, but her feet were off the ground as she somehow thought that would help, like that game of lava. If you didn't touch the floor you were safe. Or if you were in a bed with the blanket drawn over your head and all of your limbs were within the rectangle of the bed, nothing could touch you. Usagi shook the fence with her hands, oh how she wished she were in bed with a blanket drawn over her head. At home she was safe. Not in this wonderland she'd found herself in.

Then one went down and stayed down.

Usagi's eyes widened and she stared at it. It had been the one closest to her and sticking out of its forehead was a pure blue rose. An impossible color for an impossible night. She ignored that for now, and instead frowned. She did not understand, did they start growing roses out of their heads after awhile? That whole circle of life thing? Your remains are ate and turned to dirt and fertilized the ground for plants, but this just skipped a whole bunch of steps instead? Kind of like the whole coming back to life as a corpse. The walking undead.

"MOVE!" A voice roared and she jumped so high that when she clutched at the fence again, her feet were easily above the creature's heads. Her fingers tightened and were unable to release as more of them fell, more flowers sticking out of their heads. No, not _flowers_ but one kind, all blue roses. It didn't take long, perhaps seconds before all of the creatures were on the ground, now permanently dead without a chance of being reanimated.

Still she did not move, she did not step down into that pile of Zombies for fear that one didn't have its brain disrupted and would turn and bite her and happen to find the one spot she could possibly be vulnerable in.

She couldn't even look up to see who had yelled at her, for the voice had come from above.

Sensing movement, she thought whoever it was was going to leave and never return. She jerked in surprise when there was a hand on her arm. Her head turned to see a man in an outfit probably as improbable as hers and the fantasy of many young females dreaming of grandeur. His face was half hidden but what she could see of it, there was concern. "Are you all right?"

She couldn't find her voice for a moment and when she tried to speak there was only a squeak in response. She was shocked and a little embarrassed by her reaction and tried to clear her throat. This time when she spoke she was still faint. "I... I think so."

"Can you move?" He was perched haphazardly on a stoop of the building closest to her and it didn't look like a very steady position. She didn't even bother speaking this time, she only pried her stiff fingers from the wire and nodded. He removed his hand from her arm and she almost protested, somehow that had been helping, allowing her to move passed her fear and without it, she was frozen up again. But he only held it out to her as a means to help her get higher and then over it so she didn't have to go into that rot smelling infestation.

She took it and he pulled her up into his arms, and instead of dangling her down so she could land on her feet he jumped off the roof to her cringe. Usagi clung onto the man in fear, they were both going to die or suffer painful injuries that would leave them handicapped. Her eyes squeezed shut but when no pain entered her body she realized they'd landed gracefully and he was perfectly all right. She looked up in wonder and amazement, not at him, but the height of the ledge they had just been on. That was at least ten feet.

Now he finally set her back onto her feet and put her at arms distance away from him. He spun her slowly around, his hands lifting up her hair, or her skirt or the flap at her back. Only when he lifted her skirt did she try to protect whatever modesty it kept hidden. Really with how short it was, it might have been better not to have one at all, at least a one-piece bathing suite was easier to explain. "I'm checking you for marks."

"I'm fine." Usagi protested, knowing it was somehow true, most likely, probably. Eh, she couldn't know for sure, but there was a strong feeling in her gut that she was right.

"I'm just making sure. Can't have my efforts to save you go by the wayside because I didn't get there fast enough." But he eventually stopped turning her, with his hands on her shoulders and his eyes so powerful behind the mask that shielded the knowledge of what color they could be. She was pretty sure they were a dark brown or a black if she was able to gauge the color correctly through the slight one-way shield. "You're fine."

"I told you that." She mumbled, not sure what had just happened and she was still reeling from all that she'd witnessed.

"That's good because now I can kill you myself." His tone turned from soft and gentle to a roar of anger so quickly that she flinched back but he didn't let her go. "What were you thinking, coming out here dressed like this? You saw Sailor V do it in England and decided you'd try it out yourself? Tokyo doesn't need a vigilante, the authorities are handling things their own way. You're going to get yourself killed drawing so much attention to yourself. I could have been anywhere today and I wouldn't have been able to save you. Go home, get some sleep and go back to school like a good student. God, you can't be more than fifteen!"

She was actually seventeen, but he probably wouldn't want to hear the correction. "It wasn't like that, I wasn't trying-"

"To get yourself killed? No, probably not, but that's what happens when foolish girls wander around the streets alone at night. There's police trying to clear up the streets but its harder to find them at night and more are created by people with the same thoughts you're having, trying to push their limits! I can assure you, you're not alone in your ideals of emulating a heroine in a foreign country, but I have a pretty big hunch that she's just a poster and there's a group of well trained soldiers doing it instead. It's a pretty picture, but highly unlikely. Do yourself a favor and stay off the streets!"

Usagi was unaccustomed to being raged at in quite this way, he just kept going and wouldn't let her get a word in edge wise. If she did manage to say something he didn't hear, cut her off and continued down another path on her ignorance and foolishness. Perhaps he was just venting about all the stupid people in Tokyo, but it felt pretty personal to her and she didn't even _know_ him, much less the other way around.

She even started tuning him out as she looked around. Usagi was pretty sure he said something recently along the lines of "Leave it to the professionals!" Then her eyes caught the fact that they were dragging even more attention their way when all she wanted was to be at home sleeping.

"Look out!" She pushed him down and acted on impulse, and surprisingly when it wasn't only herself to save, she found what she didn't know before how to do. The tiara was still in her hand and she whipped it around and she was going to just toss it at them, hoping her strength and impact would be enough to break into the head somewhat. But words followed her actions. "Moon tiara... action!"

The tiara flung out of her hand and went spiraling towards the zombie-fied humans and it was like a discus, spinning round and round in an almost nauseating pattern, not quite in a circle or even that smooth and there was a trail of color following it like phantom energy. It sliced through one of their heads and the zombie fell before turning into ash, then on the way back to her, now more like a boomerang than discus, it sliced through another's stomach, cutting it clean in half, the top sagging to the ground. At least it couldn't walk anymore and the legs wouldn't do anything. She mused somewhat numbly.

But people would walk to the top half not realizing it could still bite and damage. Seconds after the tiara returned to her hand, that one too turned into dust. "Huh." She stated dumbly as she held out a hand to help the man back to his feet. "Dusted."

He was looking at her with new respect. "Perhaps I had been a tad too harsh before. You have more ability to protect yourself than I had originally thought. You should have said something."

"You and me both, buster." She was still trying to catch up to his about face and apology. "I didn't know I had it in me."

"Well thank you anyway, you might have saved my life." He turned to leave, but he hesitated. "Will you get home all right?"

"Between the two of us?" She paused meaningfully. "I'm probably more likely to."

He chuckled and bowed slightly towards her. "Until the next time. Just... don't do anything rash, you might have gotten lucky this time and I wouldn't mind seeing you around more often." Then he vanished into the night, blending seamlessly into his surroundings.

Looking into the nothing like she was, was a good salve to her emotions and helped to settle her but she turned her head slightly and her faint imagining that this was all an illusion vanished as she caught the remains of his kills. But even as she watched the roses burst into blue flames and devoured the previous humans and then in a puff of smoke there was nothing but dark ash to her silver piles.

She turned and wretched. She dumped all of the contents of her stomach from all of the meals she'd had over the day and then some onto the sidewalk. She was still heaving when she felt something butt up against her arm. For a second a cold wash of fear settled over her once more, thinking a hand or a head somehow got close to her but when her eyes focused, she saw the cat.

"Go on, go home, take a shower. Things will look better after one and a good night's sleep. I'll take care of this."

Usagi stumbled onto her feet, feeling light-headed and wanting to crash head first into the nearest wall. She didn't know how a cat was going to clean up her DNA evidence but she didn't want to know either. Thankfully it wasn't as disgusting as she'd imagined, the cat just used her powers to rid the scene of it, putting it into lala land instead.

With absolutely no idea how she got home or if she could reverse her transformation, she showered and collapsed into her bed. As she slept, her clothes shifted back into the ones she had worn while sneaking out of the house and could be seen in public in. Something warm and soft slept by her head and her nose would brush and accidentally bury into it, pulling away to sneeze and rub it, then sleep some more. All without ever waking up enough to realize what it was.

* * *

EAN: Again, I'd like to point out, I know a few things aren't canon. Done completely on purpose! Thank you, please review if it isn't to point that out. :) I'd love to hear what you have to say about these last... 10 pages...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

–

AN: Hopefully the reason for my madness as it is associated with this story will make sense one of these days, and most likely by the end of the story. There is a reason it is set in modern day Tokyo and in first season. I could have easily made it any season, well maybe not easily, but I would have found a way to do so. Anywho, on with the story!

–

Usagi rolled over and winced at the sun shining in through the window, it was blinding her even with her eyes closed. It was a lot later in the day than she was expecting if the sun was already reaching her side of the house. She was surprised her mother didn't come in and wake her up.

Then again it _was_ Saturday and she usually got to sleep in later on weekends. Her mother was probably in bed too, relishing a moment to sleep without having to worry about her kids or getting them up to get to class. She always said she got more done when the kids were at school, and absolutely nothing when they were home, so why fight it? Anything she did do would be undone in a second when it came to these two.

Usagi smiled broadly at the thought of her mother, she was such a great woman.

Stretching she tried to recall her dreams but it was just a big blank of darkness and she realized she didn't dream at all, completely wiped out from a week of school. She turned her head to gauge the weather and she got a face full of soft silky, clingy small strands of fur. She tumbled backwards out of bed and stared wide-eyed at a black cat with ruby eyes on the same level as her own.

The cat blinked as if annoyed to be woken up and a huge yawn split across its features, showing the two sets of fangs, one on each mandible. Usagi couldn't help the face she made, cats, especially black ones were bad news this time of year. She never believed in that stuff, but these last few years turned it all around and made anything possible.

"Oh man!" She whined. "It wasn't just a nightmare!" Now that she was awake, the memories of the night before were filtering back in. "Y-you-you can't _stay_ here!" The cat sat up and licked its paw, unconcerned by whatever Usagi said. "I'm serious! Mom'll kill me and Shingo's allergic so you'll probably kill him and Dad, well he'll kill _you_ given half a chance."

Head tilted in curiosity, as if trying to understand what she was saying, the cat watched her but said nothing.

"You can talk, can't you?" Usagi slowly made herself at least appear more graceful and not just sprawled out. She at least looked like she was intentionally doing so. "Kitty?" She reached out to touch, however stupid that was, to make sure the cat was real and not just an imagination.

She got a hiss and a paw with razor looking claws extended as it swiped at Usagi. She jerked back startled and ended up on her bottom again. The cat was hissing and making that noise only cats seemed able to make when it was upset and wanting to be left alone.

Usagi held her hands up in the air. "Ok, ok, I get it, I'm staying back. Are you really the same cat from last night?" The cat settled back down and watched her wearily for a repeat attempt, but Usagi learned her lesson.

It opened its mouth and a kind of squeak-slash-whine came out and Usagi didn't know if that was a yes or no. Whatever this was, it decided not to talk right now. The head rotated slightly as the cat regarded her. Then it stood up and stalked over to Usagi, headbutted her and then turned to the window. It was definitely trying to communicate something to her, but Usagi wasn't sure what.

"Want to go outside?" She opened the window and the cat jumped out onto the tree. "Ok, well nice meeting you, thank you for saving my life, but I think I'd rather not be bait for anymore Zombies." Usagi swung the window shut again and the cat turned startled and started pawing at it like a dog, wanting to be let back in. Usagi shook her head and closed the curtains on it. She heard that whining on the other-side of the window and it wasn't stopping any time soon.

Usagi slowly backed away and closed her door on it, it was fainter, and the further away the better. Usagi hoped nobody else would hear and the cat would just stop and leave soon, find some other sap to take up the cause. Hopefully Umino. He's the one that wanted it, and he could have it. By the time she got downstairs, the whining was only heard if it was super quiet in a room or if you really concentrated, looking for that sound in particular.

The dawn was almost over in her esteem and she joined her family downstairs. Her mother was still in her pajamas, actually the entire family was. "Did you sleep well, Usa-chan?" The woman of the house asked, sliding pancakes onto her plate. "Dad got the day off and we've decided to have a day in, no worries about the outside world for the weekend."

"Yes I did and that sounds fantastic."

Ikuko nodded happily and ruffled Shingo's hair as she went back to the kitchen. "Don't you usually go to the arcade on the weekends?" Her father asked when it was in danger of being too quiet.

"I do, but I was thinking I didn't want to bother going out today, take a day or two off. Keep things quiet. I'm a little tired of running everywhere."

"Hmm..." Kenji mused over that until Ikuko came back out with another two plates and finally sat down. "I got a few shots last night, it was really strange, they weren't the usual cop-duo I follow."

Usagi's head shot up. "Shots? Of what?"

"Well a few of the Zombies were taken out by citizens. I asked at the precinct but nobody knew what I was talking about. All of their officers were engaged the night before and while a few of them didn't make it, they did manage to take out a few each. There just aren't enough cops on the nighttime roster, too worried about protecting during the day. I say more cops at night would make for less dangers during the day, and less hassle with all the people on the streets."

"Yeah, but there's greater risk for the cops at night, they might be worrying about one Zombie when another comes out of an alley or a dark shadow. It's not as easy to see them." Ikuko countered. "Now enough talk like this. What is it that you've got to share?"

Kenji pulled out his digital device, it had a lens like a camera and zoomed well, but the viewing portion was large like a tablet. "Here, these two. I couldn't believe it at first, I thought maybe they were doing a video or something insane. But here it is. We have our very own Sailor V."

"Sailor M." Usagi said before she could stop herself and they looked at her for explanation. "Uh... I mean V was already taken, but M kind of looks like a 'V' with feet."

There were eye rolls but she was used to that and she looked over her father's shoulder at the pictures. She had to admit, in action she looked pretty darn cool, but in a few she looked very lame too, standing there in a pose waiting for her tiara to come back to her. The guy from last night looked cool in every shot, except for the ones she'd rudely pushed him onto the ground, there he looked a little less than sophisticated. Not that sophisticated was really needed during a fight with Zombies, but whatever. "Wonder what his name would be?"

"Sailor T?" Shingo asked dryly and she whacked him upside the head. "Hey! Mom!"

"You kind of deserved it." Ikuko laughed at her kids antics, somehow with all the horrors, they were still just kids. That had been the point of maintaining the city as they had, to try and create as normal of a life as possible despite the dangers and they were succeeding, or at least the media was saying so.

"Say, daddy, how do you get photographs like this?" Usagi was a little concerned for her father, more so than she was ever in the past. Sure she knew of the dangers, but none of them had ever hit so close to home. Just yesterday one of her good friends was taken off, and she was still unable to process that.

"I'm completely safe, baby girl, if that's what you're worried about. I'm just at work, taking photographs from different rooms in the building. We have one of the best tele-lens in the city. It was just lucky that they were in an alleyway that my camera picked up." It was even luckier that her father didn't have to take photographs of his own daughter being attacked and eaten or turned. She'd never been to his work place before, so she hadn't realized she was so close to it. All she knew about it was that it was one of the tallest buildings in Japan and that there were two elevators within. She ran a hand up to her eyebrow and rubbed it, thinking of all the horrors that would have entailed and the pain she would have caused just for a necklace.

A necklace that she looked down upon now, and thought she loved it just as much as the first time she saw it. She wasn't the only one that noticed it. Ikuko's eyes narrowed. "Where did you get that, Usagi?"

"From Naru's mother's shop. I bought it yesterday before coming home. I guess I forgot to show you my most recent purchase."

"I really wish you wouldn't spend your money on such foolery." Ikuko sighed heavily but reached out to cup the necklace in her hand for a closer inspection. "But it is rather pretty. Does it mean something to you?"

Usagi took the necklace back and traced the Moon's embrace of the Earth. No it didn't, but she couldn't help but feel as if it _should_. Instead she hugged her shoulders to her ears and then let them drop. "Life, our planet and the steady thing that surrounds us."

"That's a very beautiful thing to say." Kenji noted. "Mind if I use that sometime?"

"If it isn't too stupid to say in a newspaper." Usagi laughed and hugged her dad before taking her seat next to Shingo again and eating more food. "It'll probably need a rewrite."

"Maybe, but I can always put it in quotes." Kenji grinned across the table at his only daughter and she was a precious one indeed. For all of a second, looking out at the city below, he'd thought he'd seen her, but then on further inspection, the face had been all wrong but she'd been sporting a similar hairstyle. The only difference was that Usagi looped the ends of her streamers around the buns one more time so they didn't drag or flow freely down to the ground like the girl in the photograph. In fact Usagi almost looked like the bunny they'd named her after when she did that. It had been a concession on her part, streamers were a hazard to running the streets, even with how slow the zombies were. She'd agreed to the change as long as she got to keep her signature look. She hadn't worn that look with streamers in almost ten years. She had slowly morphed her buns too until they became more ornate, no longer were they simple buns but they had loops somehow kept away from the center bun and she had a very unique look. His heart had skipped a beat last night until he knew for sure that she wasn't the intended target and then he cheered with her success, forgetting, momentarily that he feared the worst for his daughter. She had been a miracle child from the very beginning and he regarded her with soft eyes and turned them to his wife who shared his look and her lips quirked up to amusement. She thought he was the biggest softie in regards to their children.

"I forgot, Naru called earlier this morning, she was wondering how you were doing and if you had any plans for the day." Ikuko mentioned as she cleared away the plates.

"Oh, um, I forgot I needed to call her."

"It's all right, I told her that you were sound asleep in the bed and that I'd have you call her back when you woke up but she seemed to back out on it, as if she realized she had plans and had forgotten them."

Usagi knew what Naru was really doing and she was glad that her mother hadn't figured it out yet and that Naru was smart enough to hide the truth. "I guess I should still call her, just to make sure everything's all right on her end. Thanks Mom."

"Not a problem. Why don't you guys watch cartoons for awhile? I'm sure your dad wants to read his own paper for awhile, see what he's missed in other sections of interest and I'm going to clean up in here."

Shingo agreed but Usagi passed to call Naru back. That short conversation turned into an hour long chat.

–

Checking in with the other hero of the night, found him in the crown arcade, looking up every time someone passed the sensors and looking back at his coffee every time the person wasn't who he was waiting for. "Why don't you just tell her?"

"Can you imagine it? I tell her and open myself up in this crazy world and the next minute, when its poised to hurt the most, she's gone?" Mamoru countered.

"When you care for someone like you care for her, it won't matter when she's taken from you, it'll always hurt deeply. The longer you wait, the more likely she'll be taken from you and then there's all this missed opportunity. It won't matter if you've opened up or not, you still have cared for her."

"All right, but then what about on her side? I tell her, get her to care about me and then I die. What then? I'll have hurt her so much more than if she never knew of my feelings."

"She'll be hurt anyways as well. You can't make someone care for you, they either do or they don't. Then she'll live on never knowing the truth, that you love her."

"Motoki... I have to tell you something, something about last night that changes things for me." Mamoru hesitated, not knowing how to begin. Motoki looked at him curiously, but wary was in his gaze as well. "I found her, I finally did it. Or at least I think I did. I ran into her on the street."

"Was she turned?"

"No, she was... well I'm not sure what she was, but she was fine, better than fine. She has so much life to her and she's the same as I remember her, so full of energy and caring and..."

"How do you know it was her?" Motoki asked, knowing that this wasn't going to lead anywhere pretty.

"It was the hair, I have only ever seen one girl with a hairstyle like hers and its the same color. I just know it was her."

"Does this change anything, really? Have you got plans to meet up with her?"

"She didn't remember me and by the time I registered who she was, it was already too late. I had already left."

Motoki was silent for a long time, and Mamoru thought he forgot that they were talking as he rubbed absentmindedly at the counter top. When Motoki finally spoke, it was slowly and he still refused to look at Mamoru. It was obvious what Motoki's preference was, but he was trying to be fair to all sides and give Mamoru a clearer perspective. "I know that she's an important part of your past and you've been looking for her for such a long time, but you've opened yourself up to Usagi. Could you really give Usagi up to chase after this phantom girl, you don't know what she's really like. Not now at least."

"She was just so familiar you know? Like there really hadn't been such a long gap in knowing her. She kind of reminds me of Usagi, maybe that's why I've been drawn to her for so long. But at this moment, if I had to choose between them, I'd like to think that it'd be obvious." Mamoru finally saw Motoki's eyes flicker up to him and he tried to give him a telling look, but Motoki looked away again.

"I'll always be in Usagi's corner, no matter who she's up against. She's my sister from another family. But I'll always support you in whatever you do also. I just hope you make the right decisions, not just for me, but yourself as well."

Motoki left Mamoru with that advice and Mamoru reflected on it. He stared down into his dark coffee with his image on the surface. Motoki asked good questions and Mamoru knew that he'd never let harm befall Usagi if he could help it. And now he had a way to ensure that harm never befell her, but he couldn't be with her all the time to protect her. Nothing was sure-fire.

What was odd was the fact that he was called to, quite literally, to a girl who could. But Usagi never put herself in harms way, whereas this girl had done so on purpose. Sure she said she didn't, but only someone prepared came dressed like that and with the skills to defeat the monsters that roamed their streets. He sighed, he'd just have to keep an eye out for Usagi and try to protect her if it came to that. She'd been lucky so far and he hoped it would stay that way. In the meantime, he'd try to clean up the streets to make it safer for her, and he'd have someone doing the same thing and perhaps they could have each other's backs.

He didn't know, perhaps he was wrong about the girl and it wasn't the one from his past, but another one entirely. He just felt it deep down that he was right, the style of hair was the exact same as he remembered. He'd have to wait it out and find the truth in time.

–

Saturday passed quickly and all too soon it was Sunday afternoon and her mother was out to get some groceries. Most of the stuff they lived off of was produced in their own home or on their grounds, but a few specialty items were store bought.

Usagi was in her bed and kicking her feet in the air as she read one of her mangas. She was humming along to an internal song as she did so. She was so in tune with what she was doing that she was startled when she felt something land on her bed and shifted it on her. Usagi turned a startled gaze onto where she felt it and she bolted up to her knees seeing that black cat back and in her room. "How'd you get in here?" She demanded, not expecting an answer.

"How do you think? I snuck in when your mother opened the door. I had to wait a long time, its very annoying in this generation, people don't leave doors or windows open and they don't go in or out as much as they used to."

"Well each generation is only reacting to their environment." Usagi commented, cause holding a conversation with a cat was perfectly normal. "Why are you talking now? Is it only possible at night?"

"No." The cat grumbled and sat down, assured that she wasn't going to be tossed out the window. "I can only speak when the moon is in the sky, the time of day changes all the time. Its rather annoying actually. Something one never fully gets used to."

Usagi nodded in understanding. "That's rough. Now you can leave." She stood up to walk over to her window and the cat hissed at her. Usagi halted to a stop. "Really, the other night was just a fluke, I'd like to forget it ever happened."

"It was not a fluke you were chosen." She insisted. "Its now your duty to go out there and help the civilians of Japan in anyway you can."

"I don't want that duty."

"Too bad, you accepted it the moment you took the broach."

"That's a broach?" Usagi turned and pulled it out of the drawer and flipped the circular disk over. "Oh wow. It's a locket broach. How... old."

It looked old too, sure it was shiny and pretty, but it had a really really old vibe to it. "Of course its old, it's older than I am."

"But I don't want it."

"If you didn't accept you would have died that night. It's something you've accepted in return for your life."

"Well thank you broach, but I'm not going back out there to face these things. It'll have to find someone else to dictate to. Fighting monsters really isn't in my character. They scare me more than most people, even being desensitized to them as much as I have, and I really hate killing them."

"You'll have to. You'll get sick if you go too long without transforming. You signed an agreement. You get to live and become the protector of the people or you slowly die."

"News flash, we're all slowly dying." Usagi still refused to accept it and she turned to put the broach away.

"Not as fast as this will be. I said slowly but it is only in comparison to those bitten." The cat came closer and put a paw on Usagi's hand, trying to show how serious she was. "The situation can only be revised and you can get out of it only when the job is done. When there is no more outside threat to humanity and those you've now sworn to protect."

"I never signed anything." Usagi said mutinously. "I was tricked."

"You figuratively signed when you took it."

"So any girl could have taken it. Give it to one of them."

"Not any girl, only certain ones and if one ever chooses not to take it, then no one can take her place and the team loses a valuable member to the team."

"Who decides who these girls are?"

"Nobody, they were born, destined to these roles."

Usagi slammed the drawer shut with her hip. "I'll take my chances. Now go, I'm reading."

"A manga." The cat was sounding annoyed and the words were said in a sneer. "A perfect example as to how much your brain works."

"Mangas can be impressively deep, just because there's pictures doesn't mean that they aren't quality. Besides a picture's worth a thousand words." Usagi settled back down on her stomach and tried to ignore the cat.

"Every day these creatures are allowed to roam free, they're killing innocent humans. Those deaths will be on your shoulders."

"So what do you want me to do? Go out every day and spend the entire day killing these things that once were humans too? There's scientists working on cures. One day these creatures will be returned to a human status and I'll feel worse for permanently ending lives."

"They're dead!" The cat yelled and the two of them froze, the silence that followed was to only make sure that nobody else in the house heard that. Then the cat went on quieter. "There's no return for these people. Stop that hope right now. These people are dead and then their corpses rise from the ground and go out to kill more people. You're saving your friends, your family. I'm not saying go out all day, I'm not even saying all night. I'm just saying take out as many as you can in an hour or so. Do your duty, survive another day, and live with a clear conscious that you're doing some good, making an impact."

Usagi rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. A few years ago she used to have posters up there of people she admired and wanted to be like. None of them were heroes and would never have risked their lives to save another person. Usagi never thought of herself in those terms either but she had a zest for people and never wanted harm to come to them. She was the first one to stand up for a person if they were being picked on. This was similar to that, but with a lot more extreme consequences if someone didn't defend them.

"If it makes you feel better, the first people to fall were society's degenerates. The ones that would be on the street late at night and weren't going close to the person for any good reason. You're killing bad guys turned into zombies who are continuing where they left off." The cat pushed.

"Not to mention all the good people that they've turned." Usagi said dryly. "What do you need me to do?" After Friday night she was having nightmares anyways that would likely be with her for the rest of her life. She'd already encountered one of the scariest things she could think of. What would repeating that do to her? Perhaps make it less scary going into it prepared, knowing that she had control over the situation.

"You need to leave your room and transform again and then I'm aware of a disturbance down in Roppongi."

"But that's sooo far away!" Usagi complained. "And talk about the spot of degenerates hanging out. I'm surprised they didn't just band together and create their own slaughter group to demolish this threat."

"They tried, but they were unaware of how things really worked before they got wiped out. Now there's too many of them that the police are afraid of entering the street in case there's a swarm. No matter how many police officers they have for that area, they'll be overwhelmed. You're specially equipped because you can't be bit or scratched. They've been satisfied to just sit on the outskirts and pick off any that cross the boundaries, but most of the youma are still within the area taking out any survivors."

Usagi supposed that a few of them weren't actually bad, and she had to go take care of any that were left. She didn't feel good about this, especially if it meant helping any murderers or traffickers. "Fine. Let's go. Hey, what do I call you anyway?"

"My name is Luna."

"I'm-"

"Usagi, I know, I did my research before encountering you. You just pushed things forward with your impromptu trip out." Luna cut her off and jumped up onto the window sill. "You're really coming, you're not going to just shut the window on me again, are you? Because I wasn't lying, if you spend too many more nights without going out there and doing what you should, then you will get sick and it will not be pleasant."

"I'm coming." Usagi assured her, not intending to find out what Luna was talking about, she had no interest in being in pain and if this sailor suit would protect her, well, she'd bare it even if it bared every aspect of her body. "Skin bait is so in right now."

"Just come on." Luna jumped out easily onto the tree and Usagi looked behind her, just realizing her door was left open and she ran to close it first. It wasn't likely her mom would come in to check on her. She didn't think Usagi was going to sneak out, not like she might have if the world was a little different.

Usagi carefully jumped to the branch closest to her window and worked her way down. A few alleyways later Luna directed her to go in, it was safe and clear of creatures. Usagi ducked in and quickly called upon the broach's powers. She didn't want to be caught with her pants down, so to speak. This time as her arms reached out, the magic covered it like before, but unlike before, didn't leave them bare except for the gloves, black gloves covered her hands and wrists and then sleeves in a thick material covered her from neck to ankle before black boots covered her pants and ended at her knees.

"Costume reboot! Cool!" Usagi squealed and gave a little dance as she realized that she no longer in a modified Sailor costume. Not that she knew what tiaras and sailors had in common. She stopped suddenly and looked down at the cat. "Why is there a new costume?"

"This land is different than the intended costume, it has decided to better equip you with weapons that work best for this reality."

"Is that true?" Usagi lifted a brow, not believing a circular locket would have any knowledge and she saw the cat shrug. "What reality would that one be appropriate in, anyway?"

The black feline gave a long and tortured sigh. "A land that was different than this one, I'm just beginning to realize precisely how different." Usagi was going to question her more but Luna spoke before she could. "Fine, I admit it, I decided you were right and programmed something into the locket that wouldn't be as horrible as that in this environment. That wouldn't say: Hey! Look at all this long bare flesh, you don't know that its actually protected so I'll be spending most of my time battling on keeping you from biting me rather than doing what I'm supposed to be doing." Usagi blinked, she did a pretty impressive impression of her. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought she was listening to a recording of her saying something along those lines.

"Oh, ok then." Usagi shot back up to her full height, which was actually quite lacking and turned to go where Luna had claimed needed her. (How was she going to get there in time? She didn't know.) She wasn't too offended, if at all, she was used to people making fun of her and the way she talked. She was just concentrating on what needed to be done now... when she caught an eyeful of herself in the mirrored window across the street. "Hey, um... Luna, it's _yellow_!"

"Yes and what is your point?"

"Well, not only is it yellow but its _bright_ yellow. Isn't that going to be just a major beckon to people and things on the street? Definitely no stealth there."

"You're not meant to be stealthy. But if you're so concerned by the color change, it's better than white, isn't it? Which is what the fuku originally was with a few other colors to differentiate you from the others."

"As if we needed a bigger target on my back, making it easier for the enemy." Usagi sighed and picked at it. Now that she saw the whole thing, she couldn't help but feel it looked kind of familiar.

Luna sighed dramatically and loudly getting Usagi's attention back. "I had to give it images to get the idea of what I wanted, there's an algorithm, I have no control over which ones it decides to give the individual girl. But as for the look itself, I had to feed it images from Earth movies as I couldn't type in specifics."

"So... I'm what exactly? From which movie?" She knew she knew it, but she couldn't tell what she knew.

"You're dressed in the lead's outfit from Kill Bill!" Luna was really getting antsy and Usagi put out her hands trying to call her down and made hushing noises. "Or at least very similar to it. There are a few modifications. You've got the same style boots as before, but a different color and biker gloves. Now will you hot foot it to the site?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Where was it again?"

Luna sighed, that was becoming a habit, and took a running leap and landed onto Usagi's shoulder. "I'll give you directions."

As they ran Usagi chuckled. "At least I'm not dressed in Victorian clothes, then it would be really cliché."

"Oh?" Luna had no idea why the girl would say such a thing.

"Yeah, especially with you referencing movies as a way to deal with the real life situation. I'd be the one in a cloak then." Seeing Luna still didn't get it or just didn't care, Usagi ventured forward a bit more, wondering just when it had become natural to talk to the cat without thinking of it as a cat. "There were a few movies that were set back then or at least used their clothing. I can't imagine fighting in a high collared jacket with several layers of petticoats on underneath. Most of them frills."

"I can assure you that I don't believe I put any of those in there."

Usagi snorted, oh she knew that kind of back talk well, she did it a lot herself. "Can't wait to meet the girl who has to wear it."

"I hope it doesn't get picked." Luna prayed so, just so she didn't have to hear it once it happened from this girl, who would go on and on. "I don't watch too many movies I just pushed supernatural and crime fighters into the search engine and let it all cycle from there. There were only a few requirements."

"Like the sword." Usagi piped in.

"Not the sword, the katana." Luna chided. "But yes, there had to be certain types of weapons. You were right when you said a tiara wasn't exactly an attack weapon. But it did have its advantages, like being able to throw it and attacking from a huge distance. You'll still have it, it's in your subspace pocket."

"My sub-say what?"

"Sub-space pocket. It's this huge void in an alternative dimension. You can reach into it through a rift. Uh... forget all that, let's just say its a magic pocket that can stretch and hold practically anything."

"Oh, like in Harry Potter?" She felt pretty smart for remembering that one tiny scene in eight movies.

"Yes, like in Harry Potter, whatever or whoever he is. I, wait a second, I do hope you are not reaching into a man's pocket."

Usagi laughed. "It's a movie, but continue, the tiara is in the pocket, a mask on my face, which to be honest probably won't hide my identity anymore than the last outfit and I have a giant phallus on my back."

Luna sounded shocked and appalled at Usagi's graphic term, or rather, imagination? "The Katana is to be respected. It is a dangerous weapon and you wield great power with it."

"Yeah, yeah, what's so special about it?"

"Well it's not gold."

"I got that. Like the tiara. Couldn't really be carrying around a gold sword on a yellow jumpsuit." Usagi groaned. "And I have blond hair!"

"So yes, you're right, at least it's not gold." Luna's tone was try as she hung on for dear life as Usagi ran with little need for directions. "But it is silver." Something about the way she said it made Usagi feel like there was more to the story, that there was a _point_ to being silver, but she didn't have time to question her as she skidded to a stop and found what was causing the most recent disturbance.

It had its hands around its dead prey's head, knocking it back and forth against the ground, continuing on even though it was obvious that they were very very late.

"What is that?" Usagi asked on a strangled breath. "That's not- that's not a _zombie_."

"No, that's a weremonkey. It enjoys the kill more than the meat, the more it has to do to kill its prey, the happier it is." Luna informed her almost happily and Usagi looked at her like she was crazy. "What? I'm just happy its not a werecat, I ran into one of those the other day, not a pretty sight. I'm glad its not the cats getting a bad wrap again."

"Oh, and who was this were-kitty? And what did you do to it?"

"I fled, it was in love with me, wanting to turn me." Luna rolled her red eyes as Usagi just stared at her. "His name was Rhett."

"Again with your movies, Luna?" Usagi complained. "Didn't you have anything better to do with your life?"

Luna hissed at her and unsheathed her claws, it was less scary when Usagi was in this form. "Living for several hundreds of thousands of years was very boring and I was pleased with the invention of movies. It gave me something to do in my spare time. But I can assure you in my years of wandering this planet, I have _never_ met a more irritating girl."

Usagi beamed. "Good!" Then she sobered up, she did have a creature foaming at the mouth in front of her, and it was only luck that it was still embroiled in its death-haze that it was obvious to anything else around it. The only reason she wasn't as concerned about it as say, a Zombie, was that it was smashing a frog into the ground, not a human and the monkey was quite small, about Luna's size. While Luna was scary, she was only scary because she had claws and could speak. A monkey had claws too but they weren't as scary looking as Luna's and while its teeth were sharp, same thing applied. "So what do I do?" She turned her attention fully onto the creature, she'd deal with that knowledge bomb Luna dropped on her later. Hundreds of thousands of years? Yikes, and her broach was older still?

It was just finishing up, and it bit the frog's head off. She made a disgusted face that probably wasn't very attractive to see. "This is going to be rather difficult since its so small." Luna was surveying the scene and just then, the weremonkey was aware that it was no longer alone.

It lifted its head and bleeding eyes looked at her with renewed interest. A new prey was in sight. And it was Usagi it was after, not Luna, take down the big one and the smaller one would be an easier target later. "Um, Luna?" She asked as she backed up quickly because the monkey took off at a run towards her.

"You have to stab it with your katana!"

"Well that doesn't seem so hard." Usagi grabbed the handle of the sword and tried to mimic the scene she always saw in shows. It didn't budge, except to pull at the sheath at her back and tip her forwards a little. She pulled again. She found herself on her knees instead. "I suppose the hardest part is just getting it off my back." She laughed nervously as the monkey got closer and closer, screeching as only monkeys did. She concentrated and finally managed to pull the katana up and out, but she fumbled with the weight.

"The problem is hitting a moving target." Luna said wryly from a foot away, intending to stay out of the danger zone, which was anywhere in Usagi's vicinity. "Especially one so small."

"Ah, I can just take a swing at it." Usagi waved that concern off, if she could get the sword under control that was and she was fast losing time as the monkey took a flying leap at her, its little paws outstretched ready to chew her face off.

Usagi managed to pull the sword up with both hands, just in time to block the monkey who defected right and shaved off a few of its hairs. She breathed easier now that she didn't have a flying projectile aimed at her. "Right, hit the monkey."

"In the heart." Luna added who decided to cover her face with both of her paws when it looked like Usagi was going to have the worst attack on a human ever. Not in danger or horror, but in sheer dumb-ass-ness. She peaked one paw off her ruby eyes to see Usagi glare at her. "What?"

"Couldn't have told me this before?"

"That's why the sword is silver. Only silver kills the weres and you can stab it all you want but until the heart is pierced, it can come back over and over again."

"Ok, Zombies in the head, weres in the heart." Usagi sighed deeply and readied for another go with the monkey. Blood spattered its fur and around its lips was stained another color permanently. "Can't I just cut off its head instead?" Usagi muttered to herself and attempted to turn the sword outwards instead of up and the weremonkey was fantastic at dodging her.

It had incredible energy and Usagi needed a break. She leaned heavily on the katana breathing hard and staring at the monkey who seemed to practically vibrate with the desire to go again, and it did, several times but she kept batting it away with slower and slower arm movements. She had no idea she was so incredibly out of shape. She groaned and lifted the sword again, readying for another round.

Laughter entered her ears and it was several things at once, an annoyance, a disturbance and sweet relief from the nagging Luna continued to jabber at her. "Here, let me help." One of those blue roses came whizzing by her ear and she only saw it after it passed and hit the monkey dead on in the heart.

She made an impressed face. "Good shot." She readied to stab the monkey, the rose would only slow it down for a moment. Once it wasn't stunned anymore, it'd come too once more.

"What are you doing?" He was still amused and she glanced back at him, looking for his location and had to look up to find him.

"I have to stab it with my sword." She told him not feeling very creative or energetic enough to give him a typical answer.

"It's unnecessary. They're steel-tipped."

"Steel isn't silver."

"No, but this particular metal-alloy combination is." He dropped down to her level. "I mixed them myself."

Usagi felt herself sag with relief. "I'll make you a deal, you kill all the weres and I'll kill all the zombies?"

He chuckled and reached out to pull a frog leg out of her hair. "I'd agree to that deal if it could be done. However it seems I'm needed where ever you are and people need you in both. This was just a lucky day, it wasn't attacking a person. You know I almost didn't recognize you, should I expect a change of outfit for every battle? For I have to say, you grossly misjudged the need for this one."

"It wasn't up to me, but I think this is it from now on." She eyed him critically. "But I'm not the only one whose changed. No more tuxedo and cape?"

He shrugged. "I don't know what happened, not that I really picked that outfit in the first place. I guess we're both playing dress up for Halloween this year."

"Yeah but that's a month off, and I kind of liked the tuxedo. Though you did kind of look like a medieval Dracula."

"Is there any other kind?"

Usagi shrugged in response. "I suppose if he lives to be in the 21st century he'd dress accordingly. You kept the roses."

"That's a signature _me_ thing, I'm sure you have one too."

"I wouldn't know, I'm kind of new to this. But I like that you kept the roses, it makes this new combination kind of... spicy." She grinned. "A rose throwing pirate, can't beat it."

"You're one to talk, tiara throwing sailor."

She started snorting. "Rose throwing dinner guest! All you needed was a ship and I could call you Jack!"

He was about to say something but something else crowded that thought out. "Say... why do you think we're all nautical themes when you sit down to think of it? Except this current one, but if you looked at it sideways, it could be confused for a wetsuit."

Her shoulders rolled. "Possibly because we're on an island. Never know when you'll be out to sea."

He shook his head, not that either of them probably saw much of the sea on a daily basis. "Get some practice, it took me awhile to get here today, but we got lucky and it was a monkey on its own. Next time it might not be."

"Just thinking the same thing myself." Usagi watched him nod and then disappear along the rooftops. It was hard judging which direction that was. She looked down at the evaporated monkey, the one good thing about being dusted, nobody could use these creatures as experiments. She felt bad for the animals probably as much as she did for the humans. She didn't know how they were created to begin with or if it was permanent, but as Luna said, she couldn't allow herself to believe they could be saved. A lot of them probably couldn't live with themselves afterwards, knowing they didn't just turn others, but killed a few too. But she needed to and that's how she was going to manage it, by not thinking of those things. Though if science couldn't save them, perhaps magic could. Were the weres the same as the zombies? She needed to know more. "Hey Luna?"

"What Usagi-san?" Luna asked with exasperation, she'd already made her stance on that man clear, now it seemed as if he was more obscure with the eye-patch and bandanas and Usagi hadn't listened to her about him.

"Why is it this is the first time I've heard of these were-animals?"

"They've been around, just in more remote locations in this area of Japan. They're making their way in to Tokyo. There's a lot you don't know or see. They're just varying forms of danger and you have to face them all."

Usagi fiddled with the katana and groaned as she lifted it to put it away, her arms were sore. "Oh. I just thought there were Zombies." And she got a head shake at just how naïve she was, but it was very rare, if she were out passed sunset. These last few nights were the exception. "I see those every day on the way to school but they're easy to avoid if you're fast enough and stay away from big crowds. This is going to be a new challenge for the people if they have to avoid weres too."

"They don't come out during the day." Luna hesitated. "Usagi, they're humans or animals during the day, but they're not the same as they were before. They've been changed. If you kill them, they'll keep coming back to life until you don't get their heart. They come back stronger and tougher and more dangerous. Make sure if you kill it, you _really _kill it."

"If they're human during the day, why can't they be turned back? I understand the Zombies and your point about that, but those people have died. These haven't."

"They have. They just retain some of their memories and change forms like you do but unlike you, they're not themselves anymore underneath the surface. They can't evolve or live anymore. They're just reliving the same scenes over and over again and they don't know how to handle a response different than what happened before."

Usagi didn't know how to handle it herself, this is not what she'd agreed to just a few hours ago. This was nothing like taking up the fight against Zombies. How could she trust what Luna was saying? She needed to figure out a way to turn them all back into humans if she could.

–

EAN: You guys have no idea how many story ideas knock around in my head begging to be written up. The ones on FF are just a tiny fraction of the ones I start and then discard into the USB only to be discovered again when I dare to look through it. Then there are those that are huge undertakings that I don't dare to start, but good thing I have a file to log my ideas. Man there is one, you'll love it, if I ever get around to writing it. And then there's this other one, completely a role-reversal... ah... It's so sad I can't just plop words from my brain onto paper without writing it out, just let it be taken from my brain directly, then a whole lot of these stories would be finished, because they are in my head, it just takes time to type, which is better than pen to paper but still not fast enough because new ideas crowd in. It's really not that they pewter off, it's that I have so many other ones to write that I just kind of forget that there's been so much time between updates.

EAN2: If you're wondering about the look Usagi now sports, its a combination between pictures I saw, but you can imagine the ends being tucked into the buns so they're half the length they normally are and a rounded edge instead of ends. The other one I found in a tumblr but its omen of silverwing. But just type in silverwing. Its the one where she's wearing a white outfit with pink wings. The third or fourth picture if you look on google images. It takes a tiny bit of research. I wanted to have two Usagi-like looks but distinctive of each other.


End file.
